This invention relates to means for reinforcing elastomeric pad areas of vehicle tracks, especially tracks used on heavy military tanks weighing upwards of fifty tons. A particular aim of the invention is to provide an endless circumferential reinforcement band around the edge area of a track pad immediately adjacent the terrain-engagement surface. This endless band is designed to prevent significant outward bulging of the pad edge surface incident to high load forces on the terrain-engagement surface. By eliminating the bulge action it is believed possible to rigidify the pad and prevent internal movements within the pad that produce destructive heat and thermal degradation of the pad material. Such degradation commonly evidences itself in the form of pitting and chunking of the pad surface, i.e. small or large irregular cavities in the pad surface. A general object of my invention is to minimize this chunking tendency, to thereby increase the useful service life of the pad.
Prior art patents known to show internal reinforcement mechanism for track pads are Scheckel U.S. Pat. No. 1,886,839, Knox U.S. Pat. No. 1,966,450, Colby U.S. Pat. No. 2,012,958 and Benson U.S. Pat. No. 2,369,130. The present invention proposes a somewhat different external pad reinforcement mechanism than previously proposed. The external reinforcement comprises an endless confining band that is believed to more effectively prevent pad deformation than the known patented systems.